Ask a Japanese person who grew up with 80s films which directors are influential and many will reply with the name Shinji Somai. Underknown in the West, despite a few attempts to making him more well known by programmers, his works are held in high regard in Japan. As part of its quest to help Western film fans experience more of 80s Japanese cinema, Third Window Films will release a Blu-Ray version of his most famous film on November 27th.
Typhoon Club 
台風クラブ 「Taifuu Kurabu」
Release Date: August 31st, 1985
Duration: 115 mins.
Director: Shinji Somai
Writer: Yuji Kato (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuki Kudo, Tomokazu Miura, Tomoko Ishii, Yuka Ohnishi, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Kaori Kobayashi, Saburo Date, Yuichi Mikami, Shigeru Benibayashi,
This is the 4K restoration of Shinji Somai’s beloved cult film. It is considered to be one of the greatest Japanese films ever made by many film fans who came of age at the time of its original in Japan.
Here’s the trailer from when it hit the mini theatre circuit in Japan and the Third Window Films trailer:
Synopsis: A coming-of-age drama set in a provincial city on the outskirts of Tokyo, a group of junior high school students find themselves confronting fears, hopes, desires and finding growth in the days before, during, and after a typhoon.
This is a REGION FREE release and the package looks like this:
• A brand new 4K restoration from the original negatives
• Feature audio commentary by Tom Mes
• Selected audio commentary by Josh Slater-Williams
• Assistant Director Koji Enokido Talk Event
• Introduction by Ryusuke Hamaguchi at the Berlin Film Festival
• Trailers
• Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
• ‘Directors Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to 2000 copies
This release follows on from The Guard From Underground and DOOR and DOOR II as Third Window Films continues with its series known as Director’s Company Collection. This is a line-up of films based on the output of Japanese film production outfit Directors Company (1982-1992). Through these works, viewers will be able to get into lesser-known (in the West) but influential Japanese films of the 1980s and 90s that were made outside of the studio system.
Each release has been excellent and the commentary tracks have been very illuminating, so definitely check this Blu-ray out if you are a film fan, especially as Shinji Somai keeps needing to be rediscovered!